Seattle daily post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, W.T. [Wash.]) 1881-1888, 1887-02-24
snxAroR KTARrs AND rus neaK
AGENr.


- Louis 9l11a Dsm 7cTas
Il takes ~ arfist % seII bocks on
the railroad cara Yea never Sc an
artist alan INTO sar, hang the door,
ard start down The aisle. hif o. Hiss.
throSing Isifs Of Jesse James down By
3 Dinislef, Cess Of Meody's Sermons
b. Texas cswbsy. Allies PGnksEton,s
oetoeitve books By . yo1nQ lady from
tassAE. and Bo1Qasfs Of Verse b.
snezz1 taking prisoner 10 Sln2 sing
Year artist GA1nfsEa noiselesslE into q
ear withouf 3 book, tails thu brakeman
fuaay story whila be sizes up the
erowd, and moves lsisuFely down The
aisie piakinR onf his smokers. When be
has st1died The people long enoRgh. 10
desermiHes iast boz be gill strike each
one, and gets ms stock ready. Then be
sits down b. The minister and talks 90
elm gravelY, aAd IN . pleasant. sabd1ed
tone atozf Moedy's great work. He
drinks some Of the coWboy = whisky, and
tells him story that keeps hin laugh
Inc all the way 70 Utica He discusses
postry With the young woman from
Fasaar, and conversss in an engaging
manner about treads With the slim
youaR salesman from the dry goods
store. The result IL that he catches
every one Of them. Those are the men
Who make SO or SIS uesk, and tkr0v
the peanut and fruit stock cut of the
window rather than bother with IL.
Amt they artists 1 he Hebrew cloth
ing N reh2nts down in DEXTER street
think thai Is is q great thing to sell
man Q coat at all. That's simply moth
leg to selling q man a book that be
dossn't wan't. and can't read, and has
been impoFtunsd q hundred times in
three days to boy. And that's what
booksellers, who are artists, do.
New. there vas HOmely Dave, red
beaded, ugly as 9 hedge fenSe, Withoat
q single handsome feature-he could
tslk any man that ever lived into buying
6 book. DID you ever hear out Sen
ator EvaFts's experieEca With Dave2 It
was when Mr.. EsaFts was Seer tary Of
State under Mr.. Hayes He had Deen
out 20 California on kind Of sunt,sB
was coming back with q Eumbsr of dis
tiueaished gentlemen, senators, con
eressmen and officials. They struck
DAVIS run at Courcil Blnffs. Before
they had gone ten Giies Dave hsd look
ed the party over, and determined to sell
them some books. He decided that be
veuld mike his first ass aull upon Sec
Rotary Evarts. Mr.. Evarts was not feel
ing very well that dsy, and when he
saw Dave coming be turned away i'm
patiently, and motiened the porter TO
Put him ous.
"'i have been bored to death by the
news agents and book peddlers ever
since ! left San Francisco, and / am
heartily sick Of IT,
"sH gmeIy Dsve was not frightened
In the least. He said, With 9 bland
smile:
q" Excuse me. Mr.. Secretary, bat |
don't want 70 sell you anything. ! jast
want TO read 10 you page or two out
Of book just issued. Have you seen
Ii?
"Mr. Evarss glanced at the titls-pa
and said be hadn't.
90 Nsw, just let me beQulle the tsdi-
business OF the journey by reading tie
first paR 20 you.
$50, Dave, who had remarkably
clear and sweet voice, read on, not Only
the first, bat the second and third
pages with Mr.. Evarts q deeply inter
ested lisener. When Homely Dave
stopped, Mr.. Evarts simply said:
I'll take that book. Name your
price. Nov, what else have yen Rot7
THAT book was Edwin Arnold's
Light OF Asia It had Just come oqt
then. After Mr.. Egarts had picked cut
lot Of other books, and Dave had
read to him from them, be called the
senators and congressman, introduced
Dave to them, and made them sit down
and listen while Dave read q lot of
things. He sold more than 500 worth
Of books to those people before they
got to Chicago. You bet he didn't touch
the peanut basket that trip.
That was red-headed %HoAeIy
Dave There sin't many news agents
in the business rovadsys that can
equal that performances"